Blueprints: "GLOW"

As we steamroll towards Emmy season, Jorge will be diving into the pilot episodes for some of the Best Series nominees from now until the ceremony on September 17. This week, he steps into the ring for some gorgeous lady wrestling…

If a TV show has the Jenji Kohan seal (either as a creator or as an executive producer), there are several things you can expect from it: biting satire that effortlessly moves from dark comedy to emotional drama, a focus on female stories, and large ensembles.

GLOW, Netflix’s second big collaboration with Kohan after Orange Is the New Black (though here only in a producer capacity) is a perfect embodiment of these traits. Let’s take a look at how writer-creator’s for the hit comedy, Liz Flahive and Carly Mensch, introduce and establish the main characters that we will be following in this journey of self-empowerment and risky physical maneuvers...

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Sharp Objects: Episode 5 "Closer"

Previously: Episode 4 "Ripe"

by Chris Feil

This week’s Sharp Objects installment opened with its morphing opening credits turned into an ominous cooing, as if from the lullaby of a captor. And this week was similarly barbarous with its flailing comforts. “Closer”, its chapter title promises, describing both our discovery of the mystery and the shows encroaching brutal intimacy. This is the most contained episode yet, taking place over the course of a single day and mostly set on Eudora estate with all of the players brought together. It’s been a show built on a backbone of knowing glances, and “Closer” stacks several atop one another at once. Everyone has eyes on them, and no one feels fewer than Amy Adams’ Camille...

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Sharp Objects: Episode 4 "Ripe"

by Murtada

I was excited for this episode of Sharp Objects as it was billed as "Camille and Richard finally go on a date." They sort of did, in the Sharp Objects way by visiting Wind Gap murder scenes. But the episode also gave us a glimpse into Adora and Alan’s marriage and a memory involving Alan and Camille. I don’t think we’ve ever seen the latter two characters have any meaningful interactions before last night.

At the end of last week’s episode we saw Camille fleeing Wind Gap after her confrontation with Amma. However this time we start with her changing her mind and coming back. Images of dead girls fill the screen, we get it Jean Marc Vallèe, that's why she’s coming back. The constant cutting between now and the Camille's memories feels played out to me despite the story's dependence on memory. It was fresh and exciting when we first saw it 4 years ago in Wild (2014). Get some new tools, Vallèe!!

I’ve decided to let go of trying to look for clues to the mystery of the killer and just enjoy the performances and the eerie atmosphere that the series built.

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Harlots (S2:E3-4) Raging and Conspiring in the Pleasure Gardens

by Nathaniel R

Episode 3 
Official Synopsis: "Margaret must focus on business but a visit to the Pleasure Gardens leads to an unexpected confrontation. Charlotte tries to secure a powerful ally and gain Margaret's approval, while Lucy falls under Fallon's spell."
Minor Characters Rising: Noah Webster (Eric Kofi-Abrefa)... the tavern Mr. North frequents and Emily & Charlie's new brothel offer intriguing new possibilities for the show.
Our Take:What an episode! Every character is in play, and all of them are brought together under one roof (not literally - it's the first episode that takes place mostly outdoors!). On the surface it's all eye candy, flirtations, and the business of "pleasure". But the complicated and dangerously flimsy interior construction is built from personal intrigue and conflicted emotions and it might not be able to withstand all these dangerous games...

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Sharp Objects: Episode 3 "Fix"

Previously: Episode 2 "Dirt"

by Ilich Mejía

In this week's installment of Let's Obscure Patricia Clarkson's Face To Visually Storytell, we barely get to make out Patty's moneymaker. In all fairness, while obscured, Patricia's unreasonable Adora still gets to crush common sense with pastels and Southern charm in front of characters outside her own family this week. Out of a familial context, her obsession with perception is amplified to a chilling perversity as she willfully obstructs her daughter Camille's attempts at finding the murderer of two young girls because *gasp* what will people say! We see how even at home, protected from the scrutiny of people outside of her circle, she prioritizes presentation: heels with nightgowns before bed, suede sandals while gardening, a maid never seen without her uniform. She’s no different with less familiar acquaintances, winning over the local police chief and the grieving father with her facetious attention and sweetened coffee...

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